Sectarian/anti-government warfare in American-occupied Iraq
An
Iraqi insurgency
began shortly after the 2003
American invasion
deposed longtime leader
Saddam Hussein
. It is considered to have lasted until the end of the
Iraq War
and U.S. withdrawal in 2011. It was followed by a
renewed insurgency
.
The initial outbreak of violence (the
2003?2006 phase
) was triggered by the fall and preceded the establishment of the new
Iraqi government
by the
Multi-National Force ? Iraq
(MNF?I), which was led by the
United States
. From around 2004 to May 2007, Iraqi insurgents largely focused their attacks on MNF-I troops,
[11]
but later shifted to targeting the post-invasion
Iraqi security forces
as well.
The insurgents were composed of a
diverse mix of private militias
, pro-Saddam
Ba'athists
, local Iraqis opposed to the MNF?I and/or the post-Saddam Iraqi government, and a number of
foreign jihadists
. The various insurgent groups fought an
asymmetric
war of
attrition
against the MNF?I and the Iraqi government, while also fighting among themselves.
The insurgency was shaped by
sectarian tensions in Iraq
, particularly between
Shia Muslims
(~60% of the population) and
Sunni Muslims
(~35% of the population). By February 2006, the violence escalated into a
Shia?Sunni civil war
, and for the next two years, the MNF?I and the Iraqi government were locked in intense fighting with various militants, who were also targeting each other based on their sectarian affiliations. Many of the militant attacks in American-controlled territories were directed at the
Shia-dominated government of Nouri al-Maliki
. Militancy continued amid
post-invasion Iraqi reconstruction efforts
, as the federal government tried to establish itself in the country. The civil war and sectarian violence ended in mid-2008, having been quelled by the
American troop surge of 2007
.
However, after the
American withdrawal from Iraq
in December 2011, a
renewed sectarian and anti-government insurgency
swept through the country, causing thousands of casualties. Two years later, the violence of the new insurgency escalated into the
Second Iraq War
, largely triggered by the rise of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
.
Background
[
edit
]
The
2003 invasion of Iraq
(20 March ? 1 May 2003) began the
Iraq War
, or
Operation Iraqi Freedom
, in which a combined force of troops from the
United States
, the
United Kingdom
,
Australia
, and
Poland
invaded Iraq and toppled the government of
Saddam Hussein
within 26 days of major combat operations. The invasion phase consisted of a conventionally fought war which concluded with the capture of the Iraq capital
Baghdad
by U.S. forces.
Four countries participated with troops during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from 20 March to 15 April 2003. These were the United States (148,000), United Kingdom (45,000), Australia (2,000), and Poland (194).
Thirty-six other countries
were involved in its aftermath. In preparation for the invasion, 100,000 U.S. troops were assembled in
Kuwait
by 18 February.
[12]
The United States supplied the majority of the invading forces, but also received support from
Kurdish irregulars
in
Iraqi Kurdistan
.
The invasion was preceded by an
air strike
on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on 20 March 2003. The following day coalition forces launched an incursion into
Basra Province
from their massing point close to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. While the special forces launched an amphibious assault from the
Persian Gulf
to secure
Basra
and the surrounding petroleum fields, the main invasion army moved into southern Iraq, occupying the region and engaging in the
Battle of Nasiriyah
on 23 March. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command and control threw the defending army into chaos and prevented an effective resistance. On 26 March the
173rd Airborne Brigade
was
airdropped
near the northern city of
Kirkuk
where they joined forces with
Kurdish
rebels and fought several actions against the
Iraqi army
to secure the northern part of the country.
The main body of coalition forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq and met with little resistance. Most of the Iraqi military was quickly defeated and Baghdad was occupied on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi army including the capture and occupation of Kirkuk on 10 April, and the attack and capture of
Tikrit
on 15 April.
Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein and the central leadership went into hiding as the coalition forces completed the occupation of the country.
On 1 May, an end of major combat operations was declared, ending the invasion stage of the Iraq War and beginning the
military occupation
period and the Iraqi insurgency against coalition forces.
On 23 May 2003, Iraqi military personnel, police and security services were disbanded per
Order 2
of the
Coalition Provisional Authority
under Administrator
Paul Bremer
, leaving 400,000 soldiers jobless, which Western and Iraqi critics of the U.S. action said provided a ready pool of recruits for Islamist groups and other insurgents that emerged.
[13]
[14]
Furthermore for 10 months Iraq’s borders were left open for anyone to come in without even a visa or a passport.
[15]
History
[
edit
]
2003?2006: initial insurgency
[
edit
]
The Iraqi insurgency of 2003?06 erupted following the invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's rule in May 2003. The armed insurgent opposition to the United States-led
multinational force in Iraq
and the post-2003 Iraqi government lasted until early 2006, when it deteriorated into a sectarian civil war, the most violent phase of the Iraq War.
2006?2008: insurgency to civil war
[
edit
]
Following the U.S.-launched 2003 invasion of Iraq, the situation deteriorated, and by 2007, the
intercommunal violence
between Iraqi
Sunni
and
Shi'a
factions was described by the
National Intelligence Estimate
as having elements of a civil war.
[16]
In a 10 January 2007 address to the American people, President
George W. Bush
stated that "80% of Iraq's sectarian violence occurs within 30 miles (48 km) of the capital. This violence is splitting
Baghdad
into sectarian
enclaves
, and shaking the confidence of all Iraqis."
[17]
Two polls of Americans conducted in 2006 found that between 65% and 85% believed Iraq was in a civil war;
[18]
[19]
however, a similar poll of Iraqis conducted in 2007 found that 61% did not believe that they were in a civil war.
[20]
In October 2006, the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and the
Iraqi government
estimated that more than 370,000 Iraqis had been displaced since the 2006
bombing
of the
al-Askari Mosque
, bringing the total number of Iraqi
refugees
to more than 1.6 million.
[21]
By 2008, the UNHCR raised the estimate of refugees to a total of about 4.7 million (~16% of the population). The number of refugees estimated abroad was 2 million (a number close to
CIA
projections
[22]
) and the number of internally displaced people was 2.7 million.
[23]
The estimated number of orphans across Iraq has ranged from 400,000 (according to the Baghdad Provincial Council), to five million (according to Iraq's anti-corruption board). A
UN
report from 2008 placed the number of orphans at about 870,000.
[24]
[25]
The
Red Cross
has also stated that Iraq's humanitarian situation remains among the most critical in the world, with millions of Iraqis forced to rely on insufficient and poor-quality water sources.
[26]
According to the
Failed States Index
, produced by
Foreign Policy
magazine and the
Fund for Peace
,
Iraq
was one of the world's top 5 unstable states from 2005 to 2008.
[27]
A poll of top U.S. foreign policy experts conducted in 2007 showed that over the next 10 years, just 3% of experts believed the U.S. would be able to rebuild Iraq into a "beacon of democracy" and 58% of experts believed that Sunni-Shiite tensions would dramatically increase in the Middle East.
[28]
[29]
In June 2008, the
U.S. Department of Defense
reported that "the security, political and economic trends in Iraq continue to be positive; however, they remain fragile, reversible and uneven."
[30]
In July 2008, the
audit arm of the U.S. Congress
recommended that the U.S. Government should "develop an updated strategy for Iraq that defines U.S. goals and objectives after July 2008 and addresses the long-term goal of achieving an Iraq that can govern, defend, and sustain itself".
[31]
Steven Simon, a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the
Council on Foreign Relations
, wrote in May 2008 that "the recent short-term gains" had "come at the expense of the long-term goal of a stable, unitary Iraq."
[32]
After Iraqi security forces took the lead in security operations on 30 June 2009, Iraq experienced a "dramatic reduction in war-related violence of all types ..., with civilian and military deaths down by 80 to 90 percent compared with the same period in 2008."
[33]
2008?2011: low-level insurgency
[
edit
]
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. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
January 2016
)
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In 2010, the low point for the al-Qaeda effort in Iraq, car bombings declined to an average of ten a month and multiple-location attacks occurred only two or three times a year.
Aftermath
[
edit
]
2011?2013: American withdrawal and renewed insurgency
[
edit
]
| This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
April 2013
)
|
The Iraqi attacks since
U.S. withdrawal
[34]
relates to the last stage of violent terror activities engaged by Iraqi, primarily radical Sunni and Shia insurgent groups against the central government and the sectarian warfare between various factions within Iraq in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal. The events of post-U.S. withdrawal violence succeeded the previous insurgency in Iraq (prior to 18 December 2011), but have showed increasingly violent patterns,
[35]
raising concerns that the surging violence might slide into another civil war.
[34]
Militant organizations
[
edit
]
The Iraqi
insurgency
is composed of at least a dozen major organizations and perhaps as many as 40 distinct groups. These groups are subdivided into countless smaller
cells
. The Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimates that less than 10% of insurgents are non-Iraqi foreign fighters.
[36]
According to the Chief of the British General Staff, General Sir
Richard Dannatt
, speaking in September 2007,
The militants (and I use the word deliberately because not all are insurgents, or terrorists, or criminals; they are a mixture of them all) are well armed ? probably with outside help, and probably from Iran. By motivation, essentially, and with the exception of the
Al Qaeda in Iraq
element who have endeavoured to exploit the situation for their own ends, our opponents are Iraqi Nationalists, and are most concerned with their own needs ? jobs, money, security ? and the majority are not bad people.
[37]
Because of its clandestine nature, the exact composition of the Iraqi insurgency is difficult to determine, but the main groupings are:
- Ba'athists
, the supporters of
Saddam Hussein
's former administration including army or intelligence officers, whose ideology is a variant of
Pan-Arabism
.
- Iraqi nationalists
, Iraqis who believe in a strong version of Iraqi
self-determination
. These policies may not necessarily espouse a
Pan-Arab
ideology, but rather advocate the country's
territorial integrity
including
Kuwait
and
Khuzestan
. Historical figures of this movement include the pre-Ba'athist leader of Iraq
Abd al-Karim Qasim
and his government.
- Iraqi
Salafi
Islamists
, the indigenous armed followers of the Salafi movement, as well as any remnants of the
Kurdish
Ansar al-Islam
: individuals with a Salafi-only policy opposed to non-Salafis though not aligned to one specific ethnic group. Though opposed to the U.S.-led invasion, these groups are not wholly sympathetic towards the former Ba'ath Party as its members included non-Salafis.
- Shi'a
militias, including the southern,
Iran
-linked
Badr Organization
, the
Mahdi Army
, and the central-Iraq followers of
Muqtada al-Sadr
. These groups neither advocate the dominance of a single ethnic group, nor the traditional ideologies behind the Iraqi state (e.g. these particular Shi'as do not support the capture of Khuzestan or other border areas with Iran, but rather promote warm relations with Iran's Shi'a government).
- Foreign Islamist volunteers, including those often linked to
al Qaeda
and largely driven by the Salafi/Wahhabi doctrine (the two preceding categories are often lumped as "
jihadists
");
- Possibly some socialist revolutionaries (such as the
Iraqi Armed Revolutionary Resistance
, which claimed one attack in 2007).
- Non-violent resistance
groups and political parties (not part of the armed insurgency).
Arab nationalists
[
edit
]
Ba'athists and pro-Saddamists
[
edit
]
The Ba'athists include former
Ba'ath Party
officials, the
Fedayeen Saddam
, and some former agents of the Iraqi intelligence elements and security services, such as the
Mukhabarat
and the
Special Security Organization
. Their goal, at least before the capture of Saddam Hussein, was the restoration of the former Ba'athist government to power. The pre-war organization of the Ba'ath Party and its militias as a cellular
[
citation needed
]
structure aided the continued pro-Saddam resistance after the fall of Baghdad, and Iraqi intelligence operatives may have developed a plan for
guerrilla war
following the toppling of Saddam Hussein from power.
Following Saddam's capture, the Ba'athist movement largely faded; its surviving factions were increasingly shifting to either nationalist factions (Iraqi, though not Pan-Arab, such as the ideology of the pre-Ba'athist regime), or Islamist (Sunni or Shia, depending on the actual faith of the individual, though Ba'ath Party policy had been secular, and many of its members were atheist).
As the goal of restoring the Ba'ath Party to power was seemingly out of reach, the alternative solution appeared to be to join forces with organisations who opposed the U.S.-led invasion. Many former Ba'athists had adopted an
Islamist
facade to attract more credibility within the country, and perhaps gain support from outside Iraq. Others, especially following the January 2005 elections, became more interested in politics.
The fall of Baghdad effectively ended the existence of the
Fedayeen Saddam
as an organized paramilitary. Several of its members died during the war. A large number survived, however, and were willing to carry on the fight even after the fall of Saddam Hussein from power. Many former members joined guerrilla organizations that began to form to resist the U.S-led coalition in Iraq. By June, an insurgency was underway in central and northern Iraq, especially in an area known as the
Sunni Triangle
. Some units of the Fedayeen also continued to operate independently of other insurgent organizations in the Sunni areas of Iraq. On 30 November 2003, a U.S. convoy traveling through the town of
Samarra
in the
Sunni Triangle
was ambushed by over 100 Iraqi guerillas, reportedly wearing trademark Fedayeen Saddam uniforms.
Following the execution of
Saddam Hussein
, Deputy Leader of the Iraqi-cell of the
Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party
and former Vice President of Iraq
Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri
became a leading candidate to succeed him as Leader of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. Ad-Douri had taken over the running of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party following Saddam Hussein's capture in 2003 and had been endorsed by a previously unknown group calling itself
Baghdad Citizens Gathering
.
[38]
[39]
On 3 January 2007 the website of the banned Iraqi Ba'ath Party confirmed that he was new leader of the party.
[40]
[41]
Increasing Syrian influence in the Iraqi Ba'ath Party may well have a major effect on result in a fragmentation of Ba'athist parts of the insurgency.
[42]
Iraqi nationalists (non-Ba'athist)
[
edit
]
Iraqi nationalists are mostly drawn from the Arab regions. Their reasons for opposing the Coalition vary from a rejection of the Coalition presence as a matter of principle to the failure of the multinational forces to fully restore
public services
and to quickly restore complete
sovereignty
.
One notable leader of the insurgency among nationalist Sunni is former aide to Saddam Hussein and a former
regional Ba'ath Party
Organiser
Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed al-Muwali
who has been crossing the border between Iraq and Syria disbursing funds, smuggling weaponry and organising much of the fighting in the central area of Iraq.
[41]
[42]
One former minister in the interim government,
Ayham al-Samarai
, announced the launch in 2005 of "a new political movement, saying he aimed to give a voice to figures from the legitimate Iraqi resistance. 'The birth of this political bloc is to silence the skeptics who say there is no legitimate Iraqi resistance and that they cannot reveal their political face,' he told a news conference."
[43]
It is unclear what became of this movement.
Shia militias
[
edit
]
Government inefficacy and Iranian support
[
edit
]
The Shia militias have presented
Nouri al-Maliki
with perhaps the greatest conundrum of his administration given
the capture
of
Amarah
. American officials have pressed him hard to disarm the militias and rid the state security forces of their influence.
[44]
A 2008 report by the
Combating Terrorism Center
at
West Point
based on reports from the interrogations of dozens of captured Shia fighters described an Iranian-run network smuggling Shia fighters into Iran where they received training and weapons before returning to Iraq.
[45]
[46]
Badr Organization
[
edit
]
One major Shia militia in Iraq is the
Badr Organization
, the military wing of the
Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq
. The group is currently based in
Karbala, Iraq
, and is also active in areas throughout southern Iraq. The group was formed by the Iranian Government to fight the Saddam Hussein-controlled Iraq during the
Iran?Iraq War
. Originally, the group consisted of Iraqi exiles who were banished from Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein. After the war ended in 1988, the organization remained in Iran until Saddam Hussein was overthrown during the
2003 invasion of Iraq
. Following the invasion, the brigade then moved into Iraq, became members of the new Iraq Army, and aided coalition forces in insurgents.
Colonel Derek Harvey told Reuters "that the U.S. military detained Badr assassination teams possessing target lists of Sunni officers and pilots in 2003 and 2004 but did not hold them. Harvey said his superiors told him that 'this stuff had to play itself out' ? implying that revenge attacks by returning Shi'ite groups were to be expected. He also said Badr and ISCI offered intelligence and advice to U.S. officials on how to navigate Iraqi politics."
[47]
In a letter published by the Coalition in February 2004, an insurgent believed to be Zarqawi wrote that jihadis should start an open sectarian war so that Sunnis would mobilize against what would otherwise be a secret war being waged by Shia. The author only specifically pointed to assassinations carried out by the Badr Brigade as an example of this secret war.
[48]
In December 2005, the group and their leaders in the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq participated in
parliament elections
, under the pro-Shiite coalition known as the
United Iraqi Alliance
, and managed to get 36 members into the Iraqi Parliament.
The Badr organization supports the government of Nouri Al-Maliki.
Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army
[
edit
]
Supporters of the young Shi'a
cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr
are largely impoverished men from the Shi'a urban areas and slums in Baghdad and the southern Shi'a cities.
[49]
The
Mahdi Army
area of operation stretches from
Basra
in the south to the
Sadr City
section of
Baghdad
in central Iraq (some scattered Shi'a militia activity has also been reported in
Baquba
and
Kirkuk
, where Shi'a minorities exist).
[
citation needed
]
During his group's active militant phase, Al-Sadr enjoyed wide support from the Iraqi people according to some polls. A poll by the
Iraq Center for Research and Studies
found that 32% of Iraqis "strongly supported" him and another 36% "somewhat supported" him, making him the second most popular man in Iraq, behind only Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani.
[
citation needed
]
The Mahdi Army is believed to have around 60,000 members.
[50]
[51]
After the December 2005 elections in Iraq, Al-Sadr's party got 32 new seats giving him substantial political power in the divided Iraqi Parliament. In January 2006, he used these seats to swing the vote for prime minister to
Ibrahim Al-Jaafari
, giving Al-Sadr a legitimate stake in the new Iraqi government and allying Al-Jaafari with the cleric.
On 27 November 2006, a senior American intelligence official told reporters that the Iranian-backed group
Hezbollah
had been training members of the
Mahdi Army
. The official said that 1,000 to 2,000 fighters from the Mahdi Army and other Shia militias had been trained by Hezbollah in
Lebanon
, and a small number of Hezbollah operatives have also visited Iraq to help with training.
Iran
has facilitated the link between Hezbollah and the Shia militias in Iraq, the official said. "There seems to have been a strategic decision taken sometime over late winter or early spring by
Damascus
,
Tehran
, along with their partners in ait Lebanese Hezbollah, to provide more support to Sadr to increase pressure on the U.S.," the American intelligence official said.
[52]
Foreign participants
[
edit
]
When
Saddam Hussein was captured
in December 2003, several documents were found in his possession. One particular document, which was apparently written after he lost power, appeared to be a directive to his Ba'athist loyalists warning them to be wary of
Islamist
mujahideen
and other foreign Arabs entering the country to join the insurgency. The directive supposedly shows Saddam having concerns that foreign fighters would not share the same objectives as Ba'ath loyalists (i.e. the eventual return of Saddam to power and the restoration of his regime). A U.S. official commenting on the document stressed that while Saddam urged his followers to be cautious in their dealings with other Arab fighters, he did not order them to avoid contact or rule out co-operation.
Bruce Hoffman
, a Washington counter-terrorism expert stated that the existence of the document underscores the fact that "this is an insurgency cut of many different cloths...[and] everybody's jockeying for their position of power in the future Iraq." Many experts believe that fighters from other countries who have flocked to Iraq to join the insurgents are motivated by animosity toward the United States and the desire to install an Islamic state in place of the
Ba'ath Party
's secular
regime
.
[53]
Foreign fighters are mostly Arabs from neighboring countries, who have entered Iraq, primarily through the porous desert borders of Syria and Saudi Arabia, to assist the Iraqi insurgency. Many of these fighters are
Wahhabi
fundamentalists who see Iraq as the new "field of
jihad
" in the battle against U.S. forces. It is generally believed that most are freelance fighters, but a few members of
Al-Qaeda
and the related group
Ansar al-Islam
are suspected of infiltrating into the Sunni areas of Iraq through the mountainous northeastern border with
Iran
. The United States and its allies point to Jordanian-born Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
as the key player in this group. Zarqawi was considered the head of an insurgent group called
Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad
("Monotheism and Holy War") until his death on 7 June 2006, which according to U.S. estimates numbers in the low hundreds.
Usage of the term "foreign fighters" has received criticism as being Western-centric because, taken literally, the term would encompass all non-Iraqi forces, including Coalition forces.
[54]
Zarqawi has taken to taunting the American forces about the irony of the term: "Who is the foreigner, O cross worshippers? You are the ones who came to the land of the Muslims from your distant corrupt land." (Communique of 10 May 2005).
[55]
Zarqawi's group has since announced the formation of the Ansar platoon, a squad of Iraqi suicide bombers, which an AP writer called "an apparent bid to deflect criticism that most suicide bombers in Iraq are foreigners."
[56]
While it is not known how many of those fighting the U.S. forces in Iraq are from outside the country, it is generally agreed that foreign fighters make up a very small percentage of the insurgency.
Major General
Joseph Taluto
, head of the
42nd Infantry Division
, said that "99.9 per cent" of captured Insurgents are Iraqi.
[57]
The estimate has been confirmed by the Pentagon's own figures; in one analysis of over 1000 insurgents captured in Fallujah, only 15 were non-Iraqi.
[58]
According to the
Daily Telegraph
, information from military commanders engaging in battles around Ramadi exposed the fact that out of 1300 suspected insurgents arrested in five months of 2005, none were foreign, although
Colonel
John Gronski
stated that foreigners provided money and logistical support: "The foreign fighters are staying north of the [Euphrates] river, training and advising, like the
Soviets
were doing in
Vietnam
"
[59]
In September 2006, the
Christian Science Monitor
reported, "It's true that foreign fighters are in Iraq, such as
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
. But they are a small minority of the insurgents, say administration critics. Most Iraqi mujahideen are Sunnis who fear their interests will be ignored under Iraq's Shia-dominated government. They are fighting for concrete, local political goals ? not the destruction of America." The paper quoted University of Michigan history professor
Juan Cole
: "If the Iraqi Sunni nationalists could take over their own territory, they would not put up with the few hundred foreign volunteers blowing things up, and would send them away or slit their throats."
[60]
In 2005, the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) concluded that foreign fighters accounted for less than 10% of the estimated 30,000 insurgents and argued that the U.S. and Iraqi Governments were "feeding the myth" that they comprised the backbone of the insurgency.
[36]
Despite the low numbers of foreign fighters their presence has been confirmed in several ways and Coalition forces believe the majority of suicide bombings are believed to be carried out by non-Iraqi foreigners.
Kenneth Katzman
, a Middle East expert with the
Congressional Research Service
,
[61]
stated in June 2005: "I still think 80 percent of the Insurgents, the day-to-day activity, is Iraqi ? the roadside bombings, mortars, direct weapons fire, rifle fire, automatic weapons fire...[but] the foreign fighters attract the headlines with the suicide bombings, no question."
[62]
In September 2005, Iraqi and U.S. forces conducted a counter-insurgency operation in the predominantly
Turkmen
town of
Tal Afar
. According to an
AP
, report, an Iraqi Army Captain claimed that Iraqi forces arrested 150 non-Iraqi Arabs (Syria, Sudan, Yemen and Jordan) in the operation;
[63]
the American army claimed 20% of arrests were foreign combatants,
[64]
[
better source needed
]
while
Donald Rumsfeld
on
PBS
confirmed that foreign combatants were present.
[65]
However, not all accounts of the battle mention these arrests,
[66]
and U.S. Army commander Colonel
H. R. McMaster
said the "vast majority" of Insurgents captured there were "Iraqis and not foreigners."
[67]
Iraqi journalist Nasir Ali claimed that there were "very few foreign combatants" in Tal Afar and charged "Every time the US army and the Iraqi government want to destroy a specific city, they claim it hosts Arab fighters and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi."
[67]
There are allegations that the U.S. government has attempted to inflate the number of foreign fighters in order to advance the theory that the insurgency is not a local movement.
[
citation needed
]
U.S. Army Specialist Tony Lagouranis spoke about his job identifying many of the bodies after the assault on
Fallujah
:
We had women and children, old men, young boys. So, you know, it's hard to say. I think initially, the reason that we were doing this was they were trying to find foreign fighters. [U.S. commanders] were trying to prove that there were a lot of foreign fighters in Fallujah. So, mainly, that's what we were going for, but most of them really didn't have I.D.'s but maybe half of them had I.D.'s. Very few of them had foreign I.D.'s. There were people working with me who would?in an effort to sort of cook the books, you know they would find a Koran on the guy and the Koran was printed in Algeria, and they would mark him down as an Algerian, or you know guys would come in with a black shirt and khaki pants and they would say, well, this is the Hezbollah uniform and they would mark him down as a Lebanese, which was ridiculous, but?you know... [AMY GOODMAN: So, what did you say?] Well, I was only a specialist, so actually, you know, I did say something to the staff sergeant, who was really in charge, and you know, I just got yelled down you know, shot down.
[68]
Foreign fighters' nationality distribution
[
edit
]
In July 2007, the
Los Angeles Times
reported that 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa. 50% of all Saudi fighters in Iraq come as suicide bombers. In the six months preceding that article, such bombings have killed or injured 4,000 Iraqis.
[69]
According to a U.S. military press briefing on 20 October 2005, 312 foreign nationals from 27 countries had been captured in Iraq from April to October 2005.
[70]
This represents a component of the Iraqi insurgent movement, which also includes a nationalist movement encompassing over 30 Shia and Sunni militias.
Foreign insurgents captured in Iraq in the 7-month period April?October 2005:
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Sunni jihadists
[
edit
]
The extent of Zarqawi's influence is a source of much controversy. Zarqawi was reported killed in action in March 2004 in "a statement signed by a dozen alleged insurgent groups".
[71]
His Jordanian family then held a funeral service on his behalf, although no body was recovered and positively identified. Iraqi leaders denied the presence of Zarqawi in Fallujah prior to the U.S. attack on that city in November 2004. Zarqawi's existence was even questioned.
[72]
Involvement of Zarqawi in significant terrorist incidents was not usually proven, although his group often claimed it perpetrated bombings. As al-Qaeda is an "opt-in" group (meaning everyone who agrees to some basic Wahhabi moral tenets and the fundamental goals may consider himself a member), it is most likely that "Al-Qaeda in Iraq" is a loose association of largely independent cells united by a common strategy and vision, rather than a unified organization with a firm internal structure.
[
citation needed
]
On 8 June 2006, Iraqi officials confirmed Zarqawi was killed by two 500 lb laser-guided bombs dropped from an
F-16
the previous evening.
[
citation needed
]
Abu Ayyub al-Masri
, an Egyptian who was trained in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan took his place.
[
citation needed
]
A document
[73]
found in Zarqawi's safe house indicates that the guerrilla group was trying to provoke the U.S. to attack Iran in order to reinvigorate the resistance in Iraq and to weaken American forces in Iraq.
[74]
"The question remains, how to draw the Americans into fighting a war against Iran? It is not known whether American is serious in its animosity towards Iraq, because of the big support Iran is offering to America in its war in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Hence, it is necessary first to exaggerate the Iranian danger and to convince America and the west in general, of the real danger coming from Iran...". The document then outlines 6 ways to incite war between the two nations. Iraqi national security adviser
Mowaffak al-Rubaie
said the document, shows
al-Qaeda in Iraq
is in "pretty bad shape." He added that "we believe that this is the beginning of the end of al-Qaeda in Iraq."
[
citation needed
]
Journalist
Jill Carroll
, detailing her captivity in Iraq, described one of her captors who identified himself as Abdullah Rashid and leader of the Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq. He told her that; "The Americans were constantly saying that the mujahideen in Iraq were led by foreigners... So, the Iraqi insurgents went to Zarqawi and insisted that an Iraqi be put in charge." She continued by stating; "But as I saw in coming weeks, Zarqawi remained the insurgents' hero, and the most influential member of their council, whatever
Nour
/
Rashid
's position... At various times, I heard my captors discussing changes in their plans because of directives from the council and Zarqawi."
[75]
Schism between foreign fighters and native Iraqi insurgency
[
edit
]
Large-scale terrorist attacks against civilians carried out by foreign fighters, as well as the interpretation of Islam that they attempt to impose on the local population in areas under their control, have increasingly turned Iraqis against them, in some cases breaking out into open fighting between different groups in the insurgency.
[76]
[77]
[78]
There are signs that local Islamist insurgent groups have also increasingly caused the population to turn against them.
[79]
[80]
[81]
[82]
Opinions differ on how broad this schism is. Terrorism expert
Jessica Stern
warned that; "In the run-up to the war, most Iraqis viewed the foreign volunteers who were rushing in to fight against America as troublemakers, and Saddam Hussein's forces reportedly killed many of them."
[83]
This opinion contradicts Iraqi scholar
Mustapha Alani
, who says that these foreigners are increasingly welcomed by the public, especially in the former Ba'athist strongholds north of Baghdad.
[
citation needed
]
While some have noted an alliance of convenience that existed between the foreign fighters and the native Sunni insurgents, there are signs that the foreign militants, especially those who follow Zarqawi, are increasingly unpopular among the native fighters. In the run-up to the December 2005 elections, Sunni fighters were warning al-Qaeda members and foreign fighters not to attack polling stations. One former Ba'athist told Reuters; "Sunnis should vote to make political gains. We have sent leaflets telling al-Qaeda that they will face us if they attack voters." An unnamed Sunni leader was quoted commenting on Zarqawi; "Zarqawi is an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing occupation."
[84]
By early 2006, the split between the Sunni groups and the Zarqawi-led foreign fighters had grown dramatically, and Sunni forces began targeting al-Qaeda forces for assassination. One senior intelligence official told the
Telegraph
that Zarqawi had fled to Iran as a result of the attacks.
[85]
In response to al-Qaeda killings in Iraq, Sunni insurgents in al-Anbar province led by former Ba'athist intelligence officer Ahmed Ftaikhan formed an anti-al-Qaeda militia called the Anbar Revolutionaries. All of the militia's core members have relatives who have been killed by al-Qaeda in Iraq, and they have sought to prevent foreign jihadis from entering the country. The group "claims to have killed 20 foreign fighters and 33 Iraqi sympathizers."
[86]
The schism became all the more apparent in when a tape alleged to be from the Mujahedeen Shura Council urged Osama Bin Laden to replace al-Qaeda in Iraq's current head with an Iraqi national. The Mujahedeen Shura Council, however, issued a statement shortly afterwards denying the authenticity of this tape.
On 19 July 2007 seven domestic insurgent groups informed journalists in
Damascus
that they were forming a united front independent of al-Qaeda.
[87]
Covert Iranian military involvement
[
edit
]
An estimated 150 Iranian intelligence officers, plus members of Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
, are believed to be active inside Iraq at any given time.
[88]
For more than a year, U.S. troops have detained and recorded fingerprints, photographs, and DNA samples from dozens of suspected Iranian agents in a catch and release program designed to intimidate the Iranian leadership.
[88]
Iranian influence is felt most heavily within the Iraqi Government, the ISF, and Shiite militias.
Although the
CPA
enforced a 1987 law banning unions in public enterprises, trade unions such as the
Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions
(IFTU) and Iraq's
Union of the Unemployed
have also mounted effective opposition to the Coalition.
[89]
However, no trades unions support the armed insurgents, and unions have themselves been subject to attacks from the insurgents.
Hadi Saleh
of the IFTU was assassinated under circumstances that pointed to a Ba'athist insurgent group on 3 January 2005.
[90]
Another union federation, the
General Union of Oil Employees
(GUOE) opposes the Coalition forces in Iraq and calls for immediate withdrawal but was neutral on participation in the election. Whereas the GUOE wants all Coalition troops out immediately, both the IFTU and the
Workers Councils'
call for replacement of U.S. and British forces with neutral forces from the UN, the Arab League and other nations as a transition.
[91]
Tactics
[
edit
]
The
tactics of the Iraqi insurgency
vary widely. The majority of militant elements use
improvised explosive devices
(IEDs), car bombs, kidnappings, hostage-taking, shootings, ambushes, sniper attacks, mortar and rocket strikes and other types of attacks to target Iraqis and U.S. forces with little regard for civilian casualties.
Awareness of American public opinion
[
edit
]
A single study has compared the number of insurgent attacks in Iraq to supposedly negative statements in the U.S. media, release of public opinion polls, and geographic variations in access to international media by Iraqis. The purpose was to determine if there was a link between insurgent activity and media reports. The researchers' study suggested it may be possible that insurgent attacks spiked by 5 to 10% after increases in the number of negative reports of the war in the media. The authors believe this may possibly be an "emboldenment effect" and speculated that "insurgent groups respond rationally to expected probability of US withdrawal."
[92]
Iraqi public opinion
[
edit
]
A series of several polls have been conducted to ascertain the position of the Iraqi public further on
Al Qaeda in Iraq
and the U.S. presence. Some polls have found the following:
- Polls suggest the majority of Iraqis disapprove of the presence of Coalition forces.
[93]
- A majority of both Sunnis and Shi'as want an end to the U.S. presence as soon as possible, although Sunnis are opposed to the Coalition soldiers being there by greater margins.
[94]
- Polls suggest the vast majority of Iraqis support attacks on insurgent groups with 80% supporting US attacks on Al-Qaeda.
[95]
[96]
Directly after the invasion, polling suggested that a slight majority supported the US invasion.
[97]
However polls conducted in June 2005 suggest that there is some sentiment towards Coalition armies being in Iraq. A 2005 poll by British intelligence said that 45% of Iraqis support attacks against Coalition forces, rising to 65% in some areas, and that 82% are "strongly opposed" to the presence of Coalition troops.
[98]
Demands for U.S. withdrawal have also been signed on by one third of Iraq's Parliament.
[99]
These results are consistent with a January 2006 poll that found an overall 47% approval for attacks on U.S.-led forces. That figure climbed to 88% among Sunnis. Attacks on Iraqi security forces and civilians, however, were approved of by only 7% and 12% of respondents respectively. Polls conducted between 2005 and 2007 showed 31?37% of Iraqi's wanted US and other Coalition forces to withdraw once security was restored and that 26?35% wanted immediate withdrawal instead.
[100]
[101]
[102]
A September 2006 poll of both Sunnis and Shias found that 71% of Iraqis wanted the U.S. to leave within a year, with 65% favoring an immediate pullout and 77% voicing suspicion that the U.S. wanted to keep permanent bases in Iraq.
[103]
61% approved of attacks on U.S. forces.
[93]
A later poll in March 2007
[104]
suggests the percentage of Iraqis who approve of attacks on Coalition forces has dropped to 51%. In 2006 a poll conducted on the Iraqi public revealed that 52% of the ones polled said Iraq was going in the wrong direction and 61% claimed it was worth ousting Saddam Hussein.
[100]
Despite a majority having previously been opposed to the US presence, 60% of Iraqis opposed American troops leaving directly prior to withdrawal, with 51% saying withdrawal would have a negative effect.
[105]
[106]
Scope and size of the insurgency
[
edit
]
The most intense Sunni insurgent activity takes place in the cities and countryside along the Euphrates River from the Syrian border town of
al-Qaim
through
Ramadi
and
Fallujah
to
Baghdad
, as well as along the Tigris river from Baghdad north to
Tikrit
. Heavy guerrilla activity also takes place around the cities of Mosul and
Tal Afar
in the north, as well as the "
Triangle of Death
" south of Baghdad, which includes the "-iya" cities of Iskandariya, Mahmudiya, Latifiya, and Yusufiya. Lesser activity takes place in several other areas of the country. The insurgents are believed to maintain a key supply line stretching from Syria through al-Qaim and along the Euphrates to Baghdad and central Iraq, the Iraqi equivalent of the
Ho Chi Minh trail
. A second "ratline" runs from the Syrian border through Tal Afar to Mosul.
Although estimates of the total number of Iraqi guerrillas varies by group and fluctuates under changing political climate, the latest assessments put the present number at between 3,000 and 7,000 fighters along with numerous supporters and facilitators throughout the Sunni Arab community. At various points U.S. forces provided estimates on the number of fighters in specific regions. A few are provided here (although these numbers almost certainly have fluctuated):
- Fallujah (mid-2004): 2,000?5,000 In a November 2004 operation, the Fallujah insurgency has been destroyed or dispersed, but had staged a comeback in 2005, albeit not to former strength, in the course of 2005?2008 the remainder of the insurgency was defeated in Fallujah and the rest of Al-Anbar province.
- Samarra
(August 2011): 1,000+
- Baquba
(August 2011 ): 1,000+
- Baghdad (August 2011): 2,000+
Guerilla forces operate in many of the cities and towns of
al-Anbar
province, due to mostly ineffective Iraqi security forces in this area. There was extensive guerrilla activity in
Ramadi
, the capital of the province, as well as
al-Qa'im
, the first stop on an insurgent movement route between Iraq and Syria. In 2006, reports suggested that the Anbar capital Ramadi had largely fallen under insurgent control along with most of the Anbar region, and that as a result the United States had sent an extra 3,500 marines to reestablish control of the region. In the early part of 2007 the insurgency suffered serious setbacks in Ramadi after they were defeated in the Second Battle of Ramadi in the fall of 2006. With the help of the
Anbar Salvation Council
, incidents fell from an average of 30 attacks per day in December 2006 to an average of fewer than four in April 2007.
[107]
Baghdad is still one of the most violent regions of the country, even after the 2007 troop surge more than two-thirds of the violence that takes place in Iraq happens in Baghdad even though the Iraqi Government is in firm control of the entire city. Suicide attacks and car bombs are near daily occurrences in Baghdad. The road from Baghdad to the city airport is the most dangerous in the country, if not the world. Iraqi security and police forces had also been significantly built up in the capital and, despite being constantly targeted, had enjoyed some successes such as the pacification of
Haifa Street
, which however subsequently saw a massive surge of insurgent activity.
[108]
and after the failed Coalition
Operation Together Forward
fell under Sunni insurgent control. The U.S. and Iraqi Forces scored many decisive victories in 2007 during the U.S. troops surge when they launched Operation Law and Order and Operation Phantam Thunder which broke the back of the insurgency and has since the saw a mass reduction in violence by 80 percent since then.
Recent
[
when?
]
intelligence suggests that the base of foreign paramilitary operations has moved from Anbar to the religiously and ethnically mixed
Diyala province
. By July 2007 Diyala had fallen under almost total Insurgent control, and had become the headquarters for the Sunni-dominated
Islamic State of Iraq
, which has issued a proclamation declaring the regional capital Baqubah its capital.
In response to a law allowing for the partitioning of Iraq into autonomous regions, members of the Mutayibeen Coalition (
Khalf al-Mutayibeen
[109]
), a coalition of Sunni insurgent groups including Al Qaeda in Iraq, announced the creation of the
Islamic State of Iraq
encompassing parts of 6 of Iraq's 18 provinces on 15 October 2006.
[109]
[110]
Yet another show of defiance came on 18 October when Sunni fighters brazenly paraded in Ramadi. Similar parades were held two days later in several towns across western Iraq, two of which occurred within two miles of U.S. military bases.
By October 2006, small radicalized militias had seemed to overshadow the larger and more organized Sunni groups which had composed the insurgency previously.
[111]
As disagreements emerged in pre-existing groups for reasons ranging from the rift in the Sunni forces between foreign and Iraqi fighters, competition between Mahdi Army and Badr Brigade, and anger over various decisions such as Muqtada al Sadr's agreement to join the political process, dozens of insurgency groups sprung up across the country, though particularly in Baghdad where the U.S. army has listed 23 active militias. Residents have described the capital as being a patchwork of militia run fiefs.
[
citation needed
]
As a result of the insurgency's splintering nature, many established leaders seemed to lose influence.
[
citation needed
]
This was particularly illustrated on 19 October, when members of the Mahdi army briefly seized control of Amarah. The attack, while demonstrating the influence of the Madhi army, is believed to have originated as a result of contention between local units of the Madhi army and the allegedly Badr brigade run security forces, and the timing suggested that neither Al Sadr nor his top commanders had known or orchestrated the offensive.
[112]
At the height of the war, insurgents launched hundreds of attacks each month against Coalition forces. Overtime, insurgency groups moved to more sophisticated methods of attack such as
Explosively formed penetrators
, and
infrared lasers
, which cannot be easily jammed. These attacks contributed to the rate of civilian casualties which in turn reduced Iraq's public safety as well as the reliability of infrastructure.
[113]
As of 29 January 2009 4,235 U.S. soldiers, 178 British soldiers and 139 soldiers from other nations (allied with the coalition) have died in Iraq. 31,834 U.S. soldiers had been wounded.
[114]
Coalition forces do not usually release death counts. As such, the exact number of insurgents killed by the Coalition or Iraqi forces is unknown. Through September 2007 more than 19,000 insurgents were reported to have been killed in fighting with Coalition forces and tens of thousands of Iraqi "suspected civilians" were captured (including 25,000 detainees in U.S. military custody at the time), according to military statistics released for the first time.
[115]
American-led counter-insurgency operations
[
edit
]
Over 500
counter-insurgency
operations have been undertaken by the U.S.-led Coalition or the Iraqi government. These include Operation Option North and
Operation Bayonet Lightning
in
Kirkuk
,
Operation Desert Thrust
,
Operation Abilene
and Operation All American Tiger throughout Iraq,
Operation Iron Hammer
in
Baghdad
and
Operation Ivy Blizzard
in
Samarra
? all in 2003; Operation Market Sweep,
Operation Vigilant Resolve
and
Operation Phantom Fury
in
Fallujah
in 2004;
Operation Matador
in
Anbar
,
Operation Squeeze Play
and
Operation Lightning
in Baghdad,
Operation New Market
near
Haditha
,
Operation Spear
in
Karabillah
and the
Battle of Tal Afar
? all in 2005;
Operation Swarmer
in Samarra and
Operation Together Forward
in Baghdad in 2006; and
Operation Law and Order
in Baghdad,
Operation Arrowhead Ripper
in
Baqouba
and
Operation Phantom Strike
throughout Iraq ? all in 2007.
See also
[
edit
]
Chronology:
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[
edit
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"Rebels: Top Iraq Terrorist Dead, Statement Says Al-Zarqawi Not Behind Recent Bombings Or Letter"
. CBS News. Archived from
the original
on 1 October 2009
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
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"Zarqawi - Bush's man for all seasons"
. Atimes.com. 15 October 2004. Archived from
the original
on 14 March 2010
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
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"Text of a document found in Zarqawi's safe house"
.
USA Today
. Associated Press. 15 June 2006.
Archived
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. Retrieved
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2010
.
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Soriano, Cesar (15 June 2006).
"Iraqi leaders: Memo details al-Qaeda plans"
.
USA Today
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
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2010
.
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"Hostage: The Jill Carroll Story ? Part 6 ? Reciting Koranic verses"
.
csmonitor.com
. Archived from
the original
on 1 September 2006.
- ^
Vick, Karl (13 October 2004).
"Insurgent Alliance Is Fraying in Fallujah"
.
washingtonpost.com
.
Archived
from the original on 13 February 2011
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
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"Arab world, Iraq and al-Qaeda | Unfamiliar questions in the Arab air"
.
Economist
. 24 November 2005.
Archived
from the original on 7 December 2008
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
- ^
"W O R L D T H R E A T S ? Foreign Fighters Now Reviled by Fallujah Residents"
. Archived from
the original
on 10 February 2013.
- ^
Cole, Juan (22 May 2004).
"
"Najaf is dying" ? Page 2"
.
Salon.com
. Archived from
the original
on 9 September 2012
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
- ^
"Some in Najaf Protest Sadr"
.
washingtonpost.com
. 12 May 2004.
Archived
from the original on 6 November 2012
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
- ^
"Thousands March in Iraq Protesting Al-Sadr"
. 11 May 2004. Archived from
the original
on 12 May 2004.
- ^
"The Scotsman"
. Thescotsman.scotsman.com. Archived from
the original
on 10 June 2004
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
- ^
"Jessica Stern in the New York Times: How America Created a Terrorist Haven"
. Archived from
the original
on 27 August 2003.
- ^
"Abu Musab al-Zarqawi"
.
The Telegraph
. 9 June 2006.
Archived
from the original on 30 January 2018
. Retrieved
5 April
2018
.
- ^
Poole, Oliver (6 February 2006).
"Insurgents turning against al-Qaeda in Iraq"
.
Telegraph
. London. Archived from
the original
on 14 October 2017
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
- ^
Moore, Charles (13 March 2010).
"Sunni insurgents 'have al-Zarqawi running for cover'
"
.
Telegraph
. London. Archived from
the original
on 13 November 2007
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
- ^
Milne, Seumas (19 July 2007).
"Insurgents form political front to plan for US pullout"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
- ^
a
b
Dafna Linzer ?
Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq
Archived
12 October 2017 at the
Wayback Machine
? The Washington Post
- ^
Bacon, David (28 July 2004).
"Iraq's Labor Upsurge Wins Support from U.S. Unions"
.
FPIF Commentary
. Archived from
the original
on 3 August 2004.
- ^
David Bacon,
Murdered Iraqi Trade Unionist Trapped Between U.S. and Insurgents
Archived
25 October 2005 at the
Wayback Machine
. News Analysis, Pacific News Service, 26 January 2005.
- ^
"USLAW Statement on the Iraqi Labor Solidarity Tour of U.S."
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 27 March 2010
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
- ^
Iyengar, Radha; Monten, Jonathan (March 2008).
"Is There an "Emboldenment" Effect? Evidence from the Insurgency in Iraq"
.
NBER Working Paper No. 13839
.
doi
:
10.3386/w13839
.
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a
b
Schweid, Barry (27 September 2006).
"Poll: Iraqis Back Attacks on U.S. Troops"
.
washingtonpost.com
.
Archived
from the original on 8 May 2012
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
- ^
Survey Finds Deep Divisions in Iraq; Sunni Arabs Overwhelmingly Reject Sunday Elections; Majority of Sunnis, Shias Favor U.S. Withdrawal, New Abu Dhabi TV / Zogby Poll Reveals
. Zogby International, 28 January 2005.
- ^
Polls suggest Iraqi's "Optimistic"
Archived
12 April 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
BBC
- ^
Langer, Gary (16 March 2009).
"Dramatic Advances Sweep Iraq, Boosting Support for Democracy"
. ABC News.
Archived
from the original on 21 August 2012
. Retrieved
7 November
2012
.
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Most Iraqis in Baghdad welcome US: NDTV poll
The Indian Express
- ^
Moore, Charles (13 March 2010).
"Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent"
.
The Telegraph
. London. Archived from
the original
on 9 April 2008
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
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Abdel-Wahed Tohmeh,
83 MPs Ask al-Jaafari to Put a Timetable for the Withdrawal of Foreign Troops
Archived
1 October 2009 at the Portuguese Web Archive. 22 June 2005.
- ^
a
b
"The Iraqi Public on the U.S. Presence and the Future of Iraq"
(PDF)
. World Public Opinion. 27 September 2006. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 5 October 2006
. Retrieved
23 November
2008
.
- ^
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Archived
27 July 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
conducted by D3 Systems for the BBC, ABC News, ARD German TV and USA Today. More than 2,000 people were questioned in more than 450 neighbourhoods and villages across all 18 provinces of Iraq between 25 February and 5 March 2007. The margin of error is + or ? 2.5%.
- ^
Iraqis Oppose Oil Development Plans, Poll Finds (August 6, 2007)
Archived
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Wayback Machine
(Oil Change International, Institute for Policy Studies, War on Want, PLATFORM and Global Policy Forum)
- ^
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"Most Iraqis Favor Immediate U.S. Pullout, Polls Show"
.
washingtonpost.com
.
Archived
from the original on 19 April 2010
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
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"poll from March 2007"
. MSNBC. 19 March 2007. Archived from
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on 31 August 2010
. Retrieved
26 March
2010
.
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The Indian Express
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Kraul, Chris (7 May 2007).
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.
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. Archived from
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. Retrieved
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2010
.
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. Home.bellsouth.net. 1 January 1985
. Retrieved
26 March
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.
[
dead link
]
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b
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. MEMRI. 17 October 2006. Archived from
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. Retrieved
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.
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. Ft.com. 15 October 2006.
Archived
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. Retrieved
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.
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.
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.
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. Retrieved
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.
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.
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. The New York Times.
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. Archived from
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- ^
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. Iraq coalition casualties count. Archived from
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. Retrieved
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.
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. Usatoday.com.
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.
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.
The Irish Times
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Sources
[
edit
]
- Bishku, Michael B. (2018),
Israel and the Kurds: A Pragmatic Relationship in Middle Eastern Politics
, vol. 41, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Analysis
[
edit
]
News articles
[
edit
]
Supportive of the insurgents
[
edit
]
Profiles of insurgent groups
[
edit
]
|
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|
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Background
| |
---|
Rationale
| |
---|
Issues
| |
---|
Dossiers
and memos
| |
---|
|
|
|
|
---|
Countries
| |
---|
Insurgent
groups
| Sunni
groups
| |
---|
Shia
groups
| |
---|
Ba'ath
loyalists
| |
---|
|
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|
|
|
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Operations
| 2003
| |
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2004
| |
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2005
| |
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2006
| |
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2007
| |
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2008
| |
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2009?2011
| |
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|
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Battles
| 2003
| |
---|
2004
| |
---|
2005
| |
---|
2006
| |
---|
2007
| |
---|
2008
| |
---|
2009?2011
| |
---|
|
---|
Related events
| |
---|
|
|
War crimes
|
---|
Occupation forces
| Killings and
massacres
| |
---|
Chemical
weapons
| |
---|
Torture
and abuse
| |
---|
|
---|
§
Other killings
and bombings
| 2003
| |
---|
2004
| |
---|
2005
| |
---|
2006
| |
---|
2007
| |
---|
2008
| |
---|
2009
| |
---|
2010
| |
---|
2011
| |
---|
|
---|
Other war crimes
| |
---|
Prosecution
| |
---|
§
All attacks listed in this group were either committed by insurgents, or have unknown perpetrators
|
|
|
Impact
|
---|
General
| |
---|
Political
controversies
|
|
---|
Reactions
| |
---|
Protests
| |
---|
Aftermath in Iraq
| |
---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
---|
|
Participants
| |
---|
Conflicts
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|
|
|
---|
|
Members
(
List of leaders
)
| |
---|
History
| |
---|
Timeline of events
| |
---|
Groups
| International branches
|
- Khorasan Province (Afghanistan and Pakistan)
- Libyan Provinces (Libya)
- Caucasus Province (North Caucasus, Russia)
- Sinai Province (Sinai, Egypt)
- Algeria Province (Algeria)
- Yemen Province (Yemen)
- Abnaa ul-Calipha (Somalia and Somaliland)
- Bengal Province (Bangladesh)
- Boko Haram (Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Mali)
(2015?2016)
- West Africa Province (Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger)
- Central Africa Province (DR Congo, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania)
- Greater Sahara Province (Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso)
- Khalid ibn al-Walid Army (Syria)
(2016?2018)
- Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade (Gaza)
- Abu Sayyaf (Philippines)
(1991?2024)
- Ansar Khalifa (Philippines)
(2014?2021)
- Ansar al-Khilafah Brazil (Brazil)
(2016?2018)
- East Indonesia Mujahideen (Indonesia)
(2014?2022)
|
---|
Unorganized cells
| |
---|
|
---|
Wars
| |
---|
Battles
| 2013
| |
---|
2014
| |
---|
2015
| |
---|
2016
| |
---|
2017
| |
---|
2018
| |
---|
2019
| |
---|
2020
| |
---|
2021
| |
---|
2022
| |
---|
2023
| |
---|
|
---|
Attacks
| 2014
| |
---|
2015
| |
---|
2016
| |
---|
2017
| |
---|
2018
| |
---|
2019
| |
---|
2020
| |
---|
2021
| |
---|
2022
| |
---|
2023
| |
---|
2024
| |
---|
|
---|
Politics and organization
| |
---|
Relations
| |
---|
Society
| |
---|
Media
| |
---|
Related topics
| |
---|